Second fighter in two days is murdered in Natal, Brazil
On Monday Luiz de Franca was shot dead in his gym in Natal, Brazil. On Tuesday Guilherme Matos Rodrigues was shot dead in a juice bar.
Monday morning Brazilian 3-0 pro welterweight Luiz de Franca was shot dead inside the Alta Performance gym in Natal, Brazil. His alleged attacker was a police officer who he had recently expelled from the gym for street fighting.
The gym is located 13 miles away from Ginasio Nelio Dias arena, where ‘UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs. Henderson II takes place on March 23.
On Tuesday night another fighter was murdered in the same city. 30 year old Guilherme “Kioto” Matos Rodrigues from Pitbull Brothers team, was shot in a juice shop.
Guilherme Cruz has the story for MMAFighting.
According to the police, two men approached in a motorcycle and shot at “Kioto”.
Rodrigues was rushed to the hospital, but he died during surgery.
“I can’t imagine why someone would do that to him,” Rodrigues’ teammate and Bellator fighter Patricio “Pitbull” Freire told MMAFighting.com on Wednesday. “He was a handsome guy, everybody knew who he was, so maybe someone was jealous of him. He trains with me for 12 years, and I never saw him getting trouble with anyone.”
Rodrigues (19-9) competed against some of the best fighters in the Brazilian circuit, including UFC veterans Ronys Torres, Iliarde Santos, and John Teixeira da Conceicao.
The police have no suspects of the crime thus far, according to Freire